Sole-sewing machine.



A. BATES.

SOLE SEWING MAOEIN'E.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 17,1911. L l W Pamemed i e-s. 9, 1913.

A1 BATES.

SOLE SEWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 17, 1911.

1 9@8@;8?9@ v Patented Dec. 9, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 21 Jay"? immwwaa A. BATES.

SOLE SEWING MACHINE. APPLIOATIONFILED mm: 17, 1911.

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Patented Dec. 9, 1913 V 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

. J4 figmafiw ,Zmzwzr @ALCQ pairs canon ARTHUR BATES OF LEICESTER, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOEMACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

{SOLE-SEWING MACHINE.

Application filed June 1'7, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR BATES, a sub ject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Leicester, in the county of Leicester, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sole-Sewing Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. I

This invention relates to chain stitch or other sole-sewing machinesjof the McKay type and is intended to render such machines more efiicient in operation than those heretofore constructed.

Sole-sewing machines of the McKay type in addition to means for feeding the work have chain stitch forming devices and arotatable horn or work support that is adapted to enter into the interior of a boot or shoe which'it supports in position for the work-feeding and stitch-forming devices to act upon. The rotatable horn is mounted upon a vertically fixed upright axis and as the work which is supported thereby varies in thickness the work-feeding devices and those of the stitch-forming devices that are above the shoe sole are so arranged that they are automatically adjusted as regards their positions and motions to suit the variations in the thickness of the material to be sewn. Among the mechanisms that require so to be adjusted are an intermittently operating work-feeding awl or pricker and a barbed needle that is adapted to penetrate right through the sole, the upper, and the insole of any shoe that may be supported on the rotatable horn so as to bring the barb into a suitable opening in the tip of the horn. The barbed needle is carried by a needle bar so actuated that as the thickness of the work varies the upstroke of the said needle varies I in extent, and a corresponding variation is effected in a cast-off device that insures that in the formation of the chain stitch the barb of the needle does not foul the loop of thread that is already in the material. Located in the tip of the horn is a looping device or whirl, the function of which is to loop the thread around the barb of the needle aft-er the needle has penetrated through the work. With the exception of the whirl, all of the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 9, 1913. Serial no. 633,750.

foregoing work'feeding and stitch-forming devices require correction in their working relationship whenever there is any variation iii the thickness of the work; consequently, to actuate them, stroke-varying mechanisms are required and these have been of such a nature as to limit the speed at which sole-' sewing machines can be operated.

An object of the present invention is to overcome these and other objections by eftee-ting changes in the general arrangement and operation of the work supporting and feeding devices and the stitch-forming mechanism. To this end, afeature of the present invention is for a chain stitch or other sole-sewing machine having needle-operat ing mechanisinthat moves the needle to different extents according to the thickness of the work, an arrangement such that while the needle always starts from the same position when retracted from the work, it is maintained under positive control throughout its stroke whatever the extent to which that stroke is varied.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved mechanism controlled by the thickness of the work being operated upon to impart a variable stroke to the needle. Conveniently the said mechaiiism may comprise parts which move about different centers during the movement of the needle, but which centers are brought into coincidence at one limit of the stroke of the needle, so that adjustment of the said parts to vary the stroke of the needle in accordance wih the thickness of the work shall not affect the position which the needle occupies when at one limit of its stroke.

' It is an object of the present invention to provide a chain stitch or other sole-sewing machine with an improved device formeas- 11 ring or calipering the thickness of the work at the point at which the needle is operating. And a further feature of the invention consists in the provision in a chain stitch or other sole-sewing machine having means for varying the stroke of the needle in the manner above set forth of a work-calipering device that-con'iprises' an adjustable or other abutment located in close proximity to the needle and upon a line that passes through the needle and is transverse to the line of feed of the work. 3v th'us locating lhe said of the invention are applicable not only tosole-sewing machines, but also to other machines for performing successive operations around the marginal portions of the bottoms of boots or shoes. Moreover, the invention is not to be considered. as limited to the particular constructions which are herein set forth by way of example.

in the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section of a sew ing machine embodying the several features of the present inventionin their preferred form; Fig. 2 is a view showing in detail the mechanism for effecting the worleteeding motion oi the awl; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the parts in a different operative position; Fig. 4 is a detail view, illustrating particularly the needle actuatingmechanism and showing the position which the parts assume when the needle reaches thelimit of its upward stroke; Fig. 5 is a detail plan view of the needle actuating mechanism; Fig. 6 is a detail view in front elevation of the mechanism for assisting in the turning of the horn; and Fig. 7 is a detail plan view of the mechanism illustrated in Fig. 6.

In the machine asillustratcd in the drawings, the rotatable horn 1 is arranged to be movable vertically to accommodate varying thicknesses of workand a stationary abut; ment 2 is orovided against which the horn clamps the work during such times as a stitch is in progress of formation. The needle-drivinomechanism varies the extent of downstroke imparted to the needle and by means of connections between the horn and the needle-actuating mechanism this extent is automatically corrected to maintain correct cooperative relationship between the needle barb and looper in the horn tip. To insure that this variation shall correspond exactly with the thickness of the material, the abutment against which the horn clamps the work in caliperin; is located behind and in close proximity to the needle so that the part of: the work that is calipered will be that in which the stitch is in process of formation and not the part of the work that is in front of. or in rear of this position. This has the ad vantasre that the thread measured of? from the supply will be in exact agreement with lhe thickness of that part of the work for which the stitch is being made.

oa ers To effect the vertical reciprocation of the needle bar the following mechanism is em ployed in this preferred embodiment of the im'ention: Upon the main shaft 3 of the machine is mounted an eccentric-4 (Fig. 1) the strap of which has its arm 6 attached by a joint to the backwardly-extended arm 7 of a lever 7, 8, mounted to turn about a fulcrum 9 fixed upon the machine frame. The forwardly-extended arm 8 of the lever 7, 8 is coupled at 10 by a horizontally disposed connectinglink 11 with the upper end of another link 12 (hereinafter-referred to as the anchor link) that is upstanding, being pivoted at its lower end 13 to a lever 14 fulcrumed at 15 toward the rear of the machine frame. This last named lever is coupled with the born 1 so as to have its angular position controlled by the movement of the horn. in compensating for the thickness of the work. The connections between the lever 14 and the horn 1 comprise a rod 16 of which the upper end is coupled to the lever while the lower end is pivoted to a treadle lever 17; and a link 18 that connects a sleeve 19, mounted upon an extension oi the horn, with the treadle lever 17. The connection between the sleeve 19 and the extension 20 is such as to permit the horn to turn with relation to the sleeve but compel it to move vertically therewith. A spring 21. on the rod 16 tends to maintain the horn in its uppermost position. To the horizontally-disposed connecting link 11 there is centered at 22 near its joint with the anchor I link 12, a pair of axially alined twin links 23 which have their free ends connected at 2 to the pendent twin arms 25 of albell crank lever 25, 26 fulcrumed at 27 upon the machine frame. The forwardly-extended arm 26 of thebell-crank lever 25, 26 is connected with the needle bar 28 by a suitable link 29.

In the operation of the needle mechanism arranged as set forth, the needle bar 28 is reciprocated vertically from the eccentric 1 through the connections described; by which connections, it will. be noted, the needle is maintained under positive control throughout its stroke. But according to the particular arrangement of the parts now to be described, the upper limit of the path of the needle 30 is maintained always constant while the lower limit thereof varies in accordance with the thickness of the work. To

maintain constant the upper limit of the stroke of the needle bar, the pivots 24 (connecting the pendant twin arms 25 of the bellcrank lever 25, 26, and the twin links 23) are substantially co-axial with the pivot 10 (connecting the horizontally-disposed connecting link 11 with tlif arm 8 of the lever 7 8) whenever the needle bar 28 is at the said upper limit, the said pivot 10 being then located between the pivots 24 of the twin its center 15 without the work or for is brought 3Q bell-crank lever 25.,

links 23, as shown in 4.

10 tive of inriations in the posit-ion of the anchor link 12 owing to variation in the height of the horn Thus, while these centers 10, 24, are in co-axial re ationship the lever l-l connected with the horn may be turned on producing any move over this the position of machine is at rest, the seed for/the removal of stock thereon Without affecting the pi \lK/li. of the needle 30. it its upwantl extremity of BOVQIDQHt, the .pivot l0 connecting horizontally-disposed link ll to the arm 8 of the lever '7, 8, into co-axial alinement with the fulcrum of the bell-crank lever 25, 2.6, as shown in 1; d in this position, as will be apparent, vertical movement of the an chor link 1;, would a turning of the f 26 to raise or lower the needle ban lly this arrangement, the lower limit of the nnurement of the needle bar is varied according to the thickness of the work through the position which the ment of the bells needle bar 28; aid

the parts when the horn it can be 'de' horn assumes when bearing against the work acting through the anchor link 12 as above described, it being understood that the movement imparted to the bell-crank lever 25, 26 by the eccentric l and connections aforesaid will be augmented or diminished according to the angular adjustn'ientcf the bell-crank lever 25, 26 by the anchor link 12 and its connections.

It will be noted that the mechanism for actuating the needle comprises a series of pivotally connected levers and links. During the operation of the machine and while the work being operated upon remains of uniform thickness, the pivotal connections of the levers and links move in paths which have a certain angular relation to each other. As soon, however, as the work varies in thickness, certain parts of the needle actuating mechanism are shifted so that a change is produced in the angular relation of the moyements of the pivotal connections. Thus it will be noted that the pivotal connection 10 between the arm 8 of the lever 7, 8 and the link 11 always moves through a certain path of uniform extent. The link 11 is connected to the bellcrank 25. 26 by means of the link 23 which is pivoted at 22 to the link ll. thickness the pivot point 22 moves through 26 or the a path which is at an angle to the paths of movement of the pivotal connection 10 and the pivotal connection-24. Upon a change in the thickness of the work, the pivotal point 22 is either raised or lowered so that it moves 'in a different path with relation to the paths of the pivots l0 and 24 and thereby more or less of the movement of the pivot point 10 is trznismitted to the bellcrank 25, 26 and to the needle bar. When the pivotal connection 22 is raised or lowered it is swung atout the pivotal connection 10 as a center and inasmuch as the pointlt) is in alinement with the point 24 at the upward limit of'the needle stroke, the swinging of the point 22 about the point 10 does not change the up ward limit of thencedle stroke but varies only the extent of the downward stroke.

- The machine is provided with a feed point or awl 31 (Figs. 2 and 3) which is secured to a pendent awl bar 32 coupled bya universal or Hookes joint 33 to a lever 34 pivoted at 35 (see also Fig. 1) on the machine frame and provided with a roller running in a cam groove on a cam 36.011 the main shaft 3. The awl 81 is moved into and out of engagement with the work by this mechanism but is moved laterally to feed the work by connections from the needle bar 28. Th e chnnec't-ions comprise a collar 37 secured. to the needle bar and connected by link 38 to a lever'39 pivoted at 40 upon the machine frame, which lever is also-connected by a link 41 to a lever 42. The lever 42 is pivoted to the machine frame at 43 approxi-- mately at its center and has its lower arm connected with the awl bar. Conveniently the said connection comprises a block 44 mounted upon the lower arm of the lever and'engaging a slot l?) formed in the awl bar, the block being adjustable in a slot 416 along the lever so that the feeding stroke of the awl may be altered according'to requirements. To prevent the feeding stroke of the awl from being altered by the variation of the penetrating stroke of the needle owing to differences in the thickness of the work, the disposition of the link 38 that joins the collar 37 on the needle bar with the lever 39 is such that at or approximately at the end of the penetrating stroke of, the needle the pivotal connection between the link 08 and the collar 37 is upon. a dead center and thereby the differences in the vertical position of the needle bar, due to the alteration of its stroke, will have a negligible effect upon the lever 42 that imparts the feeding movement to the and.

In place of this particular system of linkage l1TQl]];(ltSCI'll38Cl any other suitable arrangcmcnt of parts may be employed, by which, as in the foregoing construction, the

ll hile the work remains of uniform awl is always under pcsitive control and its feed maintainer substantially constant notcured upon the main shaft 3.

' accurately determined. For this purpose the abutment is'mounted on the frame of 'the machine close to and behind the needle (Fi g.

1) and is of such form as to have its contacting surface in close proximity to the needle. Conveniently the abutment is adjustably received in a split socket 4:7 and is secured in its correctly adjusted position by 'a bolt 48 that passes through lugs projectingvfrom the said socket. The abutment may act also as a work guide against the raised channel of the work and in combination with the awl feed constitute means for turning the boot automatically when the toe or other curved portion of the boot is being sewn, by offering some resistance to the work (while it isbeing fed) toward the center about which it is required to turn.

In order to assist the o erator in the re sentation of the work to thescwing devices, means are provided for turning the horn l when the toe portion or other sharply curved portions are being dealt with. In the construction herein illustrated these means comprise a friction wheel 49 which is driven from the main shaft 3 of the machine and is adapted to engage with a companion wheel 50 upon the extension 20 of the horn 1. The wheel 49 is mounted on a shaft 51 in a manner as hereinafter described, the said shaft being held in bearings on the machine frame and receiving motion from the main shaft 3 by the following means :-On the shaft 51 is a pulley 52 around which a belt 53 is passed, the said belt also passing around another pulley 54 secured. upon a transverse shaft 55 mounted upon the machine frame. The shaft 55 is also provided with a bevel wheel 56 in gearwith another bevel wheel 57 secured on a vertical shaft 58 mounted in bearings upon the machine frame. At: the upper end of the shaft 58 is another bevel wheel (not shown) in gear with a bevel wheel se- The com-- panion wheel'50 has a friction surface 59 which is incomplete and only extends partially around the circumference. The acting surface of'this wheel is so disposed in relation to the horn 1 that when the horn is turned into the position it occupies when the toe of the boot is sewn the said friction surface 59 will he brought into engagement with the friction wheel 49 that is driven from the main shaft so that toe horn will be rotated until the two friction surfaces are again disengaged and the sewing around the toe has ed so as to be capable of rotation and endwise movement in brackets extending from the machine frame. It is therefore necessary that some device be provided to maintain the friction surface 59 of the wheel 50 in cooperative relation with the friction wheel t9 notwithstanding this vertical movement of the horn. As shown in the drawings this is accomplished by. mounting the friction wheel 49 on the shaft?) Yin such a manner that while it is restrained from rotary movement in relation thereto it will be free to move longitudinally of the shaft to the extent necessary to compensate for the vertical movement of the horn. To cause the friction wheel 4:9 to move vertically with the horn, flanges 60 are provided on the wheel, which flanges embrace each face of the wheel 50.

The invention having thus been described, what is claimed is:

1. A shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, a needle, mechanism for actuating the needle comprising a series of relatively movable parts acting to maintain the needle under positive control throughout its stroke, a fixed presser foot, a work sup port movable toward and from the presser foot, and a connection between the work support and needle actuating mechan sm acting to vary the work penetrating stroke only of the needle upon a change in the position of the work support.

2. A shoes swing machine, combination, a needle, mechanism for actu-= ating the needle, a fixed presser foot arranged to engage the work in line with the needle transversely to the directionof feed, a work support movable toward and from the presser foot, and a connection between the work support and needle actuating mechanism acting to vary the work penetrating stroke only of the needle upon a change in the position of the work support.

3. A shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, a needle, mechanism for actuating the needle comprising an osclllating lever, two pivotally connected links, a pivotal connection between one of saidlinks and said oscillating lever, connectionsbetween the other link and the needle, a presser foot, a work support, and a connection acting upon a change in the relative position of the presser foot and work support to swing the pivotal connection of said links about the pivotal connection with the oscillating lever to vary the needle stroke.

4;. A. shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, a needle, mechanism for actuating the needle comprising pivotally connected links movable about different centers port to swing the 'pivotal connection of during the movement of the needle, and said links about one of said centers to vary means for moving said centers into ahnethe other hnnt of the needle stroke.

ment at one limit of the needle stroke, a ARTHUR BATES. 5 resser foot, :1, Work support, and a conneo- \Vitnesses:

non acting upon a change in the relative WALTER W. BALL,

position of the presser foot and Work sup- FREDERICK Hnnn. 

